Chicago Tribune Halts Tabloid Edition

With the Chicago Tribune set to print its former rival, the Chicago Sun-Times, in the fall, the Tribune has abandoned its brief shift into tabloid printing.

The Tribune began printing a tabloid edition in January 2009, making the new version available on the street but not by subscription. It was perceived as a challenge to the Sun-Times, which is also a tabloid.

However, the Tribune then announced in July it would begin printing the Sun-Times and seven other suburban papers owned by the Sun-Times' parent company, Sun-Times Media Productions LLC.

While it would seem the two deals are related, a Tribune spokesperson said they were "completely independent" of one another.

Refocusing on the broadsheet is intended to enable the Tribune to add even more news pages — it recently added 44 pages a week — and, more importantly, streamline the paper’s operations. By reducing costs, Tribune hopes to reinvest in its broadsheet operation.

Financials have been an issue at Chicago’s largest paper, which laid off scores of employees as recently as late July.

"We believe those enhancements, which included the addition of 44 full news pages per week, are best displayed in the larger page afforded by the broadsheet format," Gerry Kern, senior VP and editor of the Tribune, said in a statement Wednesday. "This effort will extend our position as the Chicago region's premier source of news and information."